Fire & Ice: Astra's Fire Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Izabella, T-shirts, and a Chance Meeting

"Izabella!" I hear myself scream as I run out the front door with open arms. She ran into them, mimicking my gesture. We wrap out arms around each other in a tight embrace. "I’ve missed you, Bella!" I say hugging her tighter.

"I’ve missed you even more, Celeste." I flinch at the use of my real name…Yeah my full name is Celeste Astra Louis Tucker. Astra Louis is my grandmother’s name.

"Um…Bella, I go by Astra now." I say not letting go of her.

"Oh…Right, you wrote to me about that. Where is that jerk?"

"Jerk is here, present and awaiting punishment ma’am!" Bal says, doing a false salute. Bella growls before gently pulling herself from me before running toward Balthazar and pulling him by his shirt collar into the forest; which was located in the back of the house. The thing was that he was smiling the whole time. I follow them and gawk as Bella throws Bal into a thick tree trunk. He was still smirk as she ran at him, a feral snarl ripping from her chest as she suddenly ripped through her clothes; transforming into a Labrador sized peregrine falcon. She screeched before dive bombing Bal. Who just smirked and moved out of the way with simple movements, making Izabella even angrier. He then clenched his jaw before exploding into a giant black lion with black feathered wings; a mocking growl coming from him as he reveals all his long razor sharp teeth. A sudden burst of anger and disappointment filled me.

"Enough!!!" I yell just as they’re about to clash. Bella took her perch on a branch as I take several steps forward. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Izabella, I was so looking forward to having you come and stay with me and Bal, but you start a fight right off the bat. What happened between me and him is in the past. If you have checked your house for my letters you would have known that. And Balthazar…" I couldn’t find anything to say it him. Since last night I couldn’t seem to look him in the face. "Just drop it." I mumble turning around and walking back to the house.

"Celeste!" I hear Balthazar call to me, as I flinch and slowly turn around; my expression blank.

"What?" I growl as he walks right up to me, this guy literally had no shame. That or he was incredibly proud of his body. I don’t look away from his face as he speaks again.

"Celeste, please…Last night was—"

"Last night was a mistake. Taking advantage of me while I was emotional was just something you’d do, Bal. It’s not big deal, really." I say turning back around and heading toward the back door of the house. "Bella…" I call holding my arm out for her to fly to; she does without another thought and takes her new perch on my arm. Sure she was big, but it wasn’t like she was heavy, it felt like I was carrying in a house cat. And once we got into my room—the door now shut—she flew off my arm and transformed back into her human self. It only took a few minutes of silence before I started crying. I’d been holding in my tears for about a year and a half now. Not wanting to push my emotions on Bal. But I knew Bella wouldn’t mind. She was, after all, like my sister.

"There, there, baby girl…" She cooed rubbing my back gently. It was silent again for a while; my sobbing wasn’t as loud as I thought…After about an hour of crying and calming down; it was time for us to talk. "Alright, what’s been bugging you, babe? You never cry over a guy…Well, minus that asshole of a bodyguard—" I cut her off, pulling away from her embrace and walk to my closet. Grabbing a men’s dress shirt that I’d secretly bought, somehow the shade of blue reminded me of his eyes. I quickly jerk my head around and toss to shirt to her.

"Balthazar explained to me what happened…Why he left me. It’s because the same vampires after me are after him…What’s weird is that he has a weird birthmark of his own. And the only way anyone could know that is if you…slept with him…Or if he showed it to you…" I whisper, my cheeks starting to heat up. "It’s on his lower back and it’s like my star birthmark…But his is a sun…Bella. Do you know anything?" I ask as her face slowly shows the information I just provided.

"I’m afraid not…" She whispers in shock. "But that’s beside the point, what’s been bothering you lately, love? In your last letter…well, the most recent one you said something about a Clifford O’Mally. And that he was the love you’ve been looking for? Where is he?" I feel a sharp pinch in my chest before answering.

"Clifford…O’Mally, he was…I broke up with him to protect him. It was the only way I could think of to somehow spare him the despair I’m feeling right now…" I murmur, sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of my room.

"Technically that’s not a break up." I turn toward her, slight disbelief in my expression.

"Are you the relationship queen or something?" She rhetorically asks while crossing her arms over her chest.

"My brother and Adela, Celeste, he still loves her but that bitch left…" I glare at the harshness in her voice. It was the other way around and she knew it. She just had to have her big brothers back.

"You know that Jace left Del, Izabella. And we still don’t know where he is! Or even where Adela is!" I shout as we both stand unconsciously.

"Jace is a good man."

"And Adela is a great woman." I retort as we circle each other, a growl forming in the back of my throat.

"Why do you two always fight over Del and Jay? I mean, come on, the two could be screwing around with each other now." We both glare at Balthazar who was leaning against the door frame to the room, wearing nothing but his dark blue jeans. "Izzy, weren’t you gonna get Ra all dressed up for her surprise?" I look from Bal to Bella in confusion.

"Surprise?" She smiles sheepishly at me, gliding to my closet and changing into a pair of my old jeans; the ones with the rips at the knees and thigh area. She also grabbed one of my plain white tank tops and putting it on.

"Good thing we’re the same size, I don’t have any clothes with me." She says sifting through my closet. I sit on my bed, waiting patiently for an answer to my unanswered question. Balthazar left and came back with a pair of black snow boots and a black dress shirt on. Suddenly, out of no where I’m getting a pair of tight dark blue jeans thrown at me, along with a white turtle neck—made so it was loose around the neck—it also didn’t have full length sleeves. I have to duck as a pair of bark brown boots came flying my way. Bal laughed as he caught them. "What are you waiting for? Get your big butt dressed." Bella ordered. It was a strong order, and I never could resist and order from her. I warily took my basketball shorts off and replaced them with the fitted jeans she handed me, taking off my cut up tank top and replacing that with the white long sleeve turtle neck. Getting a pair of socks and then putting the high heeled boots on. I look in the mirror, but something was missing…I heard my sister’s faint footsteps before feeling a heavy pressure on my chest. Looking down I see a shining golden locket hanging around my neck. I blush; it was an old gift from my mother.

"Something’s missing…" I whisper absentmindedly.

"A handsome guy at your side, perhaps…?" Bal whispers in my ear, I feel a shiver go up and down my spin.

"Alright, alright, she’s not done yet. I still have to give her a serious hair cut." Bella says ushering me into the bathroom and sitting me down on the toilet, facing the wall. "Trust me, Ra-Ra?" I simply nod as she reaches for something on the sink and I hear something cut. It felt weird having my hair done by someone other then me. And when she was done it felt like I was five pounds lighter. "It’s adorable, lil sissy." I furrow my brow before looking into the mirror. Alright, I had to say it looked pretty cute. The curls were a nice touch too.

"Whoa! Ra, if you didn’t look hot before…damn!" I feel my face flush again as I nervously fidget with my left pinky finger.

"Really?" I whisper not feeling all that confident about it.

"Would I lie to you?" We all pause for a few second before burst out laughing. "Alright, bad questions. But seriously, you’re gorgeous, babe. So are we going?" I suddenly feel a strike of pain hit my stomach.

"I-I don’t think—" I was cut off mid-sentence by a strong tugging feeling at my right arm. "Izabella!!!" I scream as she pulls me down the stairs with ease…This continued until I finally agreed to walk down to that damn café that Bal had discovered while walking around town. It was called The Veela Café. It was located in historic downtown Port Angeles. On East 1st Street. Sadly, it was only until we were inside when I noticed that my all too familiar guitar case was sitting on the small stage. It took me another minute to realize that I was performing, and another to realize that I was sitting on a stool in front of a microphone holding my guitar. Everyone looked at me with judgmental eyes that I couldn’t care less about.

"Everyone, please welcome Ms. Astra Tucker. She’s new in town and her friend wanted her to get a better feel for this lovely town by doing something she loves most for you us." Someone with another mic said as I continue to stare out into the crowd, baffled by where I was.

"Ra, sing." Balthazar whispers as I slowly get the idea. Slowly strumming the elegant strings of my beloved guitar.

"Hello, um…This song is dedicated to someone who is near and…" I trail off getting a pleasurable whiff of an all too familiar scent. My eyes dart to the front door as he walks in with a few of the others from Daphine’s manor. My heart beats faster as my palms get sweaty and my stomach starts to churn. Hearing Balthazar’s low snarling I unconsciously start to play more audible. "To my heart…His name was Clifford…And…Well, this was a song about him. When I first met him really. I couldn’t seem to get my mind off him." I announce as he slowly turns toward the stage, his shoulders going rigged, his expression both solemn and shocked.

I sing as an unconscious tear streams down my cheek. But I never look away from Clifford, his eyes locking with mine as everyone gives a round of applause. Balthazar jumps up on stage and quickly takes my guitar and puts it in it's case before gently standing me up. All the while he's cussing in a low enough voice for only the nonhuman beings to hear.

"Enough...Let's just...Go." I whisper leaning my head against his broad shoulder. Bella looks from me to Clifford, her beautiful dark eyes turning hard and steely.

"He's the one responsible for your current state." She states, not asks. I simply nod my head as her eyes narrow. Both ignoring the tiny growl coming from River. A soft sob erupts from my chest as we stop in front of the small group.

"...A--" Balthazar cuts Clifford off with a growling bark.

"Don't you dare speak to her you son of a--" This time I cut him off with a hard slap.

"Balthazar, that's enough. It's time to leave. I'm terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you all." I whisper, giving an apologetic bow, my eyes locking with Clifford again. Holding his arm was a girl...a girl that looked so much like me I could have sworn she was my long lost twin. "Oh. Um...Excuse me." I whisper rushing for the door. My stomach hurt and my chest heaved as I ran, turning from random street to random street.